jest: Error: Error watching file for changes: EMFILE

I know others have posted this issue, but it seems that they are aging and using old versions. I have tried everything from other issues.

Here is the error I get:

$ jest --watch # or with $ jest --watch --no-watchman
2017-05-02 09:49 node[8980] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-02 09:49 node[8980] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-02 09:49 node[8980] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
events.js:163
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: Error watching file for changes: EMFILE
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:1050:11)
    at FSEvent.FSWatcher._handle.onchange (fs.js:1376:11)
error Command failed with exit code 1.

Versions:

node: v7.9.0
jest: 19.0.2
watchman: 4.7.0 (installed via brew)
mac: Sierra 10.12.4 (16E195)

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 7 years ago
Reactions: 28
Comments: 23 (1 by maintainers)

Commits related to this issue

Upgrade jest to address issue facebook/jest#3436 — committed to truffle-box/react-box by gnidan 7 years ago
Upgrade jest to address issue facebook/jest#3436 — committed to truffle-box/react-uport-box by gnidan 7 years ago
Merge pull request #10 from truffle-box/jest-upgrade Upgrade jest to address issue facebook/jest#3436 — committed to truffle-box/react-box by OnlyOneJMJQ 7 years ago
Merge pull request #10 from truffle-box/upgrade-jest Upgrade jest to address issue facebook/jest#3436 — committed to truffle-box/react-uport-box by OnlyOneJMJQ 7 years ago
lock jest to ^21.2.1 (https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-ui/pull/102) to resolve https://github.com/facebook/jest/issues/3436 — committed to J22Melody/test-fullstack by J22Melody 6 years ago
lock jest to ^21.2.1 (https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-ui/pull/102) to resolve https://github.com/facebook/jest/issues/3436 — committed to J22Melody/test-fullstack by J22Melody 6 years ago

Most upvoted comments

brew install watchman worked for me.

+253

joevandyk on May 18, 2017

And have you tried it with watchman (brew install watchman)?

+168

thymikee on May 8, 2017

brew install watchman worked for me too using NodeJS v6.9 but what I don’t understand is the watchman dependence itself. Is this a dependency of the NodeJS version on Mac OS X Sierra? Where does this fit in the dependency tree?

+20

melkristian on Jun 28, 2017

brew install watchman worked for me.

+15

Premjeet-Singh on Dec 7, 2017

I had this error, but found that if I changed the command I used to run jest in watch mode, it worked.

"test": "jest",
"test:watch": "npm run test -- --watch",

became:

"test": "jest",
"test:watch": "npm run test --watch",

gazzwi86 on Dec 18, 2017

ditto to watchman

amandapouget on Sep 21, 2018

I get similar error when i install “pact” and then i tried to run npm test. I using create-react-app to setup my project and using node v7.9.0

fitfab on May 30, 2017

Same here, it did not work with jest --watch or jest --watch --no-watchman (watchman was not installed):

2017-05-28 18:57 node[17087] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-28 18:57 node[17087] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-28 18:57 node[17087] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
events.js:163
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: Error watching file for changes: EMFILE
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:1050:11)
    at FSEvent.FSWatcher._handle.onchange (fs.js:1374:11)

I installed watchman using brew, and jest --watch now works. jest --watch --no-watchman still fails.

Jest v20.0.4 Node v7.10.0 MacOS 10.12.5

renchap on May 28, 2017

I had this error, but found that if I changed the command I used to run jest in watch mode, it worked.
"test": "jest",
"test:watch": "npm run test -- --watch",
became:
"test": "jest",
"test:watch": "npm run test --watch",

The extra -- is the delimiter that tells npm to forward the remaining parameters to the referenced script.

npm run test -- --watch would run jest --watch but npm run test --watch would ignore the argument and just run jest. You can verify this in your console output.

carmanchris31 on Nov 25, 2019

This problem exists with the following versions

19.0.2
19.0.1
19.0.0

It works in

18.1.0

kirkstrobeck on May 3, 2017

https://github.com/facebook/jest/issues/1767#issuecomment-313434888

kirkstrobeck on Jul 6, 2017

Yes, the error is present in v20.0.0.

2017-05-08 05:30 node[6062] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-08 05:30 node[6062] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
2017-05-08 05:30 node[6062] (FSEvents.framework) FSEventStreamStart: register_with_server: ERROR: f2d_register_rpc() => (null) (-22)
events.js:163
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: Error watching file for changes: EMFILE
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:1050:11)
    at FSEvent.FSWatcher._handle.onchange (fs.js:1376:11)
error Command failed with exit code 1.

kirkstrobeck on May 8, 2017